The group was born in the early months of this year – out of frustration with the 2021 COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow and in response to the government’s decision to expand oil and gas production in the North Sea and lift the ban on fracking. Beginning to take “direct action” in April, activists “locked down” roads, tankers and other infrastructure at 10 oil facilities in Essex, Hertfordshire, Birmingham and Southampton, leading to hundreds of arrests. But in recent weeks, they have expanded to disruptions of sports facilities, vandalism of artworks and public institutions such as New Scotland Yard. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 3:20 Who are Just Stop Oil? Oil rig protests ‘didn’t work’ “It didn’t work,” Just Stop Oil (JSO) spokeswoman Emma Brown told Sky News. “When we did the most obvious, common sense thing to target the oil companies – that didn’t break. “Activists around the world have been taking direct action against oil and gas companies for decades. But he is out of the public and media eye. “We’re creating a visible disruption in our capital. Disruption works because it puts pressure on the police, who put pressure on the government.” When two JSO campaigners scaled the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge 200ft above the Dartford Crossing this week, it had to be closed for 36 hours and caused six hours of delays across much of the M25. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:02 Just Stop Oil use hammocks on closed bridge One of them, Morgan Trowland, a 39-year-old civil engineer, said the demonstration helped “reach the social tipping point we so urgently need” on climate change. And when asked about those who had been disrupted, he added that they should “have a thought and empathy” for the 33 million people displaced by floods in Pakistan caused by melting ice this year. Ms Brown, who became involved with JSO in March, said it was “really unfortunate that people get caught up in the disorder” and that “there is no such thing as a perfect protest that doesn’t offend anyone”. He pointed out that the group has a “blue light policy” where they let emergency services vehicles through roadblocks. Asked if they were disrupting people’s daily lives to make them see the seriousness of the climate crisis, she said: “I’m not going to patronize and tell people ‘we’re trying to change your mind.’ “We’re trying to raise this in the public consciousness. And that’s happening in the media, seeing literally disruption on the streets of London.” Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:48 Just Stop Oil spray paints Harrods Experts say the protests have visibility – but not support Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti, director of the University of Surrey’s Institute for Sustainability, said the JSO may have gained publicity – but this would not translate into policy changes. “When it comes to this kind of activism, we have to distinguish between gaining visibility and rallying support,” he told Sky News. “What they are trying to achieve to put climate change in the national conversation is commendable. “But the strategies they use backfire when it comes to rallying support. And promoting the green cause only happens when the public is on your side.” The protest that seems to have drawn the most criticism is when two women threw tomato soup over Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting at London’s National Gallery. Image: Just Stop Oil activists pour tomato soup over Sunflowers at the National Gallery Professor Fioramonti commented: “To be successful, what you are trying to stop must be the enemy. “The price of what you’re doing has to be paid by the adversary – in this case the oil and gas companies. What doesn’t work is when someone else pays for it, then the layman won’t understand.” It also risks “dividing the green front” and “breaking the cause” of groups engaged in constructive dialogue with governments, tin foil producers and big business, he added. “The public may revise their view of overall cause because they think all these groups are the same.” But Ms Brown insists that “the initial outrage” for Sunflowers is what is having a real impact. “We wouldn’t have this impact if we just calmly explained the rationale behind moving to a clean energy future. “We have to do something – and I would advise anyone who is angry or annoyed with us – or thinks they could do better – to come and join the team.” Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:52 Just Stop Oil ‘competes with people’ Francois Gemenne, a climate governance researcher at the University of Liège and lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, argues that we are “beyond the point” of the need for publicity. “Such actions are a thing of the past,” he told Sky News. “The question is how to motivate people to take action and help them do that. “Getting media attention for media attention’s sake is a bit problematic.” He added that many of his peers worry that they are copying moves in the global south, where people on the front lines of climate change are less able to cope with infrastructure damage or disruption caused by protests. Quit library job for ‘full-time mobilization’ Having started with talks at universities across the country, JSO is now believed to have thousands of supporters. Among them a group of people who focus on organizing protests – and another who deals with strategy. Several hundred are currently participating in the protests themselves. Ms Brown, a 31-year-old artist from Glasgow, is part of a small group funded by the JSO to work for them full-time. Image: Ms Brown is pictured centre-left She signed up after she was given a leaflet saying “We’re f*****. Come and see what we’re going to do about it” while working in a university library. Convinced, in April she took part in blockades of oil refineries in Birmingham and London, as well as plastered in the frames of famous paintings in Glasgow. Two months later she quit her job to “mobilize full-time”, claiming her rent, bills and living expenses from JSO after they secured thousands in funding from the US-based Climate Emergency Fund. “Now I do this 50 hours a week,” he said. “I’m doing talks all over the country, leafleting on the street, nonviolent direct action training – talking about the principles of nonviolence and preparing people for the hostility we might face.” She is not officially employed, but is given an allowance, he added. “We just have to keep living. The media likes to portray us as rich kids – but we’re not – we couldn’t do this if we didn’t have food.” Image: Just Stop Oil protest through Westminster, with Emma Brown right Another group needed to ‘tell the government exactly what to do’ Just Stop Oil’s ‘civil disobedience’ strategy is similar to that of other climate groups Extinction Rebellion (XR), Animal Rebellion and Insulate Britain. Many XR activists now join JSO. “XR is not part of Just Stop Oil,” Ms Brown explained. “But there are XR people in the group. “The Insulate Britain campaign is over – so some people from there have stepped forward to join this campaign.” Asked why separate groups continue to be created, she added: “With XR governments have declared climate emergencies but are not doing what they should be doing. “So we have to tell them exactly what to do – which is ‘Just stop the oil’ and ‘Isolate Britain’. Having focused campaigns means we can win those demands.” The JSO says it wants a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy in the UK in the next eight years – and will stop all protests when that is secured. COP26 agreed on several targets to “phase them out” between 2030 and 2050. Until their demands are met, JSO has planned daily action throughout this month, which results in about a dozen arrests of activists at a time. In response, the government is seeking a new Public Order Bill to crack down on protests targeting key infrastructure, creating greater risks of arrest, fines or imprisonment for JSO members. Image: Street protest in central London. Photo: Just Stop Oil “Listening” to minority groups about the risks of conception Ms Brown has been taken into custody on four occasions. Many criticized the JSO and its predecessors for their relative privilege of being able to “just get arrested” without serious, long-term consequences. Ms. Brown says such criticisms are “very valid” and the group “listens to people of color.” But he added: “I think this kind of criticism is often leveled at us by people who also have this privilege but do nothing about the climate crisis. “I would welcome people who are also white and middle class – and try to smear us. “I am a mixed woman from a lower middle class background. “If I get arrested, I have family support, I have people’s couches I could stay on, I won’t be homeless. “But I had to look deep inside myself to see if I could do that — and I think more people should do that.” So what’s next for Just Stop Oil? Ms Brown says the team is “definitely continuing”. But beyond October’s month of action, “conversations are still happening” about what else is on the agenda. There is likely to be concerted action…
